The Boggart
by meal-worm
Summary: Severus Snape was always a very practical person. He had a very good hold on his emotions. His face remained a stone wall ever since Lily Potter's death. No one had seen what happened when his facade cracked - except an unsuspecting group of third years.


**This is a challenge from pupeez4eva.**

Severus Snape was always a very practical person. He was smart, witty, and had a very good hold on his emotions. In fact, his face had remained an unreadable stone wall ever since Lily Potter's death. No one had ever seen what happened when his carefully created facade cracked. That is, no one except an unsuspecting group of third years taking a Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

It was the day after the full moon, and Severus was substituting for Professor Lupin, who was recovering in the Hospital Wing. Severus arrived at the classroom ten minutes early and sank into the chair behind the desk. He flipped through the textbook and smirked to himself as he thought of the lesson plan about werewolves he had come up with. His smirk faded when he saw a note pinned to the side of the desk. He reached out and grabbed it.

_Snape,_

_Take the third years to the empty room next to Flitwick's office, the one with the boggart in the closet. I promised them we would do boggarts today, forgetting it was the day after the full moon. All you have to do is take them there, teach them the Riddikulus spell, and watch as they deal with their boggarts._

_Remus Lupin _

Severus swallowed nervously. Boggarts? The last time he had faced a boggart was before Lil- _she_ died, and his boggart had been the Marauders, along with Tobias, taunting him. Severus knew, deep down what his boggart would be now, there was no denying it. He would just have to bide his time until he would have to face his fears.

The students had started filing in by now, looking nervously at Severus and taking out their textbooks.

"Put your textbooks away, you won't be needed them." he said, sharply as always.

"What will we be doing then?" called out a Gryffindor boy.

"Speaking out of turn, five points from Gryffindor!" Severus said. "But, in answer to your question, we will be going to an empty classroom for your lesson about boggarts."

Everyone cheered, but was quickly silenced by a glare.

When all the students arrived, Severus led them to the classroom Lupin had told him about. It was medium sized, and was empty except for a desk pushed against the wall, and a large closet at the end of the room.

"Today we'll be having a lesson about boggarts. Does anyone know where boggarts tend to hide in?"

Hermione Granger's hand shot up. Severus smirked.

"Ms. Granger,"

"In dark, tight spaces, like that closet."

"That is precisely where the closet comes into the lesson," Severus said, barely acknowledging her answer. "There is a boggart in this closet, which we will be using for this lesson. No one knows what a boggart's true form is, because whenever a boggart is revealed it will take the form of whatever it thinks will scare the person in front of it the most. But, there is a way to get rid of a boggart. Simply think of the thing you're scared of doing something... amusing, and perform the spell Riddikulus."

As Severus showed the class how to perform the spell, he tried to ignore the feeling of dread that overcame him. He finally told the class to get in a single file line, and, with a flick of his wand, he opened the closet.

The first person to face the boggart was a Hufflepuff girl. Severus watched as the boggart turned into a huge, scaly dragon. The Hufflepuff looked terrified, but finally managed to say,

"R-R-Riddikulus!"

The dragon coughed, and ice came out of its mouth. A grin spread over the girl's face and she moved to the back of the line.

A few more people went, and they were all common monsters such as vampires or ghouls.

Severus watched as Harry Potter stepped in front of the boggart.

Hatred burned in is his eyes.

Harry Potter was a constant reminder that Lily had married James, and that he had killed her.

Every time Severus looked at Harry he felt nauseous. If only he didn't have those haunting green eyes...

Severus watched as the boggart transformed into a dementor. Harry got rid of it with a bit of trouble, but not much.

Next was his friend, the Weasley. He stepped in front of the boggart and it turned into a huge spider.

Ron's face went pale and he trembled in fear. His hand shook as he struggled to raise his wand.

Without thinking, Severus stepped in front of the Weasley, ready to say the spell as soon as it transformed.

But it was too late.

The boggart had already morphed into a beautiful women, with long red hair and emerald green eyes.

Severus went deathly pale. Even though he had been expecting it, he was still shocked. Lily's face was not angry, like he'd expected it to be, but disappointed. That somehow made it worse.

"Lily..." his voice was hoarse.

Students were all watching with rapidly growing attention. Why was this seemingly harmless woman Snape's boggart? It was clear that he wouldn't be able to perform the spell, but no one was going to do it for him.

"Severus." Lily said. Her voice was quiet, and full of sadness.

"That's... That's my mum!" Harry whispered. "Bloody hell..."

"Why, Severus? Why did you do it?"

"No... no, I never... I never wanted..." Severus stuttered.

"Snape's worst fear is Harry's mum? That's just... weird..." Ron whispered to Hermione.

"I thought we were best friends!" Lily continued, emotion thick in her voice. Harry choked at this comment.

"No... We... We are..." Severus attempted to say. Tears were trickled down his face and he sank down to his knees. The students were looking at him in shock.

"No, we're not, Severus, and we both know it. You betrayed me, ever since you called me a Mudblood."

"That... That was a mistake!" Severus cried. "You and I both know how it was for me to be in Slytherin! I was always pressured to join the Dark Lord. I was just a child!"

"That doesn't change what you did." Lily said. "You couldn't even accept the fact that I chose James over you. I honestly thought you were my friend!"

Severus was speechless by then, the tears running freely.

"_You_ killed me, Severus. Not You-Know-Who, not any of his other Death Eaters, just you. And now Harry is practically an orphan, all because of _you_." Fury was evident in her voice.

"Why couldn't you have just done what I told you, and stayed away from dark magic? I was only trying to protect you! I was only trying to be a good friend! And how was I repaid? By being murdered by you!"

"_I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.._." Severus was mouthing.

"_James _wouldn't do that to me. He was always loyal, and brave! And you? You're just a coward! Goodbye, Severus."

"LILY!" Severus screamed. But she was gone.

The boggart had disappeared back into the closet. The students were in a state of shock, all staring at Severus, who was reduced to a sobbing pile on the floor. But then the whispering started.

"I can't believe Snape was friends with my mum!" Harry said.

"And not a very good one, by the looks of it." said Ron. "But why do you think she's his boggart?"

"He was in love with her." said Hermione softly. Her eyes were swimming with tears. "He was in love with her, but she would never love him, only as a friend. She was trying to get him to stop doing dark magic, but he wouldn't. And it resulted in her being murdered." A single tear trickled down her cheek.

At that moment, Remus Lupin walked into the classroom, fully recovered. He saw Severus sobbing on the floor whimpering,

"Lily..." and could guess what had happened.

"Let's go back to the classroom." he said softly. The students obliged, and for once in their life, were completely silent.

The only sounds were whimpers and sobs coming from the boggart classroom.

**This came out a lot more angsty than I expected... But I like it! Review, please.**


End file.
